The town is quiet, eerily so. All animals, all chatter, all gusts of wind have come to a complete stop this morning. A tumbleweed passes by through the center of town and the rocking chair on the Sheriff's porch sways but remains silent. Everything is muted and as the door of the hotel opens, the only sensation that rings utterly true today is this:
One of your own is gone.
And now, as the rules state, it is your job to discover their fate.
Welcome to the investigation post! If your character decides to search an area, please post the name of the location in your header and wait for the mod replies. Anything to discover or not to will be indicated during the course of the thread.
After the body is discovered, an announcement will be made and characters are free to spend the rest of the afternoons how they like. If there are any questions, please shoot a message either to this journal or at robowest.
[ The knife certainly catches his attention as the lover of antiques he is, but though his eyes narrow in interest, he doesn't ask. Obviously, now isn't the time. When Percy sends Mrs. O'Leary forward, Hannibal stops advancing, but his eyes stay on the porch. ]
We can always afford caution. [ He corrects Percy quickly, but his voice is gentler as he continues. ] Taking unnecessary risks is especially unsafe here. But I understand.
[ percy is about to throwdown with a honey badger and hannibal is here for moral support i guess ]
But yeah, as Mrs. O'Leary pokes her nose under the porch, she's about to get mauled. A coyote claws at her face viciously and if she jumps back, it'll come out after her hissing and spitting and chase her down with the full intention of eating her.
Another coyote pops out after, carrying a very charred up arm in it's mouth before chasing after the two of them.
There's still some growling though, but quieter now. ]
[Because you're making me suffer. Mrs. O'Leary yelps and she does jump back. She runs off, the coyotes in hot pursuit and Percy sees the arm in one of the coyote's mouths...
...and he gags for a moment, immediately jumping to the worst conclusion. Mrs. O'Leary runs for the hotel with the coyotes in hot pursuit and Percy pretty much figures fuck it, he can take on a coyote. Like without a doubt.]
Annabeth! [And there he goes right under the porch. RIP Percy Jackson.
[ There's a lot going on here, to say the least. Hannibal stares, wide-eyed as the coyote goes off with an arm, and for the moment he's staring at that, will he be able to figure out the gender of who the arm belongs to?
Because unfortunately, he doesn't get much more of a look than that. As Percy dives under the porch, his attention is quickly on Percy instead. He might have pursued to help Mrs. O'Leary, but given the choice between a person and a dog, Hannibal will definitely pick the person. He's not like certain dog-lovers.
Percy goes under the porch, and Hannibal shouts out his name sharply. ]
Percy-!
[ But he's quick to essentially dive to the ground after him. He won't be fast enough to stop Percy, but if it looks like he's about to get mauled by a coyote, he's definitely going to drag him out from under the porch again. Don't fight a coyote under the porch, what the fuck percy ]
[ First of all, fuck off, Hannibal. Some dog lovers just prioritize better.
And secondly, oh, Percy.
So, when he dives under the porch, he'll see the last coyote still there, happily chewing away at Annabeth Chase's burnt corpse. It's pretty hard to make out it being Annabeth from how burnt to a crisp her body is but he'll be able to see her necklace and a few patches of her hair. Maybe her clothes aren't burnt entirely but, you know, bit hard to make out.
The coyote snarls at Percy before ripping another chunk of meat out of her torso. Her torso that is... pretty hollowed out now from the feast. It looks like they've been eating for a while, kid. ]
[ As it matters couldn't be any worse, abruptly, one (1) Hannibal Lecter will find his personal space somewhat intruded upon, Chane reaching for his arm and looking pale. In her defense, she has no other way of getting his attention! ]
[...there's. An alarming blank look at the coyote. He stands there with Annabeth's dagger in hand and he watches for a moment, taking in the sight in front of him. It's not at all hard to figure it out. It's not at all hard to know it's her because of course it is, of course it's her, of course this happened.
Hannibal may be outside of the porch (or Chane, at this point), but to an outsider it won't be hard to guess what happens next.
There's a loud, feral war cry and he charges, immediately barreling straight into the coyote and starts hacking at the animal, screaming and screaming and screaming. The dagger moves in a blur of bronze and he fights it off of Annabeth's corpse, fur and probably blood flying as he continues tearing it apart.
[ Hannibal immediately catches the sight of Annabeth, and his mouth falls open in surprise. He can predict what might happen next, which is why he grabs Percy's ankle, fully intent on pulling him back and away from the animal, but he's stopped from doing so by Chane's presence.
He looks up at her, startled, but then it's a quick look between Percy underneath the porch and Chane again. If Percy kind of has that situation under control, he'll speak to her: ]
Mrs. Walken— What- What is it?
[ ...but if not, he's definitely dragging Percy out from under the porch with all the strength he can get at the odd angle. So. Good luck everyone. ]
[ ... She can only spare a momentary glance at Percy's frenzy, refusing to distract herself. There's a faint, thick breath piercing from her throat as she opens her mouth -- if Hannibal is likely to think on it overmuch, he might realise that she tried, in her own agitation, to answer him vocally. Her lips close around a name and then she's writing. This all takes less than a moment. ]
[ Hannibal looks almost impatient as he waits for her words, but to be fair, he's dealing with a shonen protagonist going nuts right now. But he sees Chane trying, and as soon as he sees the name, he takes in a breath of surprise. ]
Seizaburo-kun—? You found him?
[ He quickly stands up, and he starts in a sprint towards the church, since considering Natalie, he can make a good guess as to why Chane had found him and looked so pale. But as he goes, he yells to her: ]
[The coyote's probably long dead but he's still cutting and stabbing the shit out of it because there's nothing else he can do. In fact, he's busy trying to wriggle out of Chane's grip.]
Let go of me! [You might need some help, Chane, this happens when you're dealing with a six-foot-tall swordsman.]
[ You're underestimating how much strength this tiny body is packing, dude. The more he wriggles against her, the more force Chane exerts. In fact, she gives up trying to bind him altogether and goes for his wrist. If she can get hold of it, she'll twist it to just short of the breaking point.
God, she's going to have the worst reputation after this week... ]
As Shinnosuke approaches, he'll be stopping a safe distance away from Percy and Chane, as he doesn't want to end up as the next corpse today, thank you. Given Percy's demeanour, he can take a guess as to whose corpse he might've found.]
Percy!
[He yells—possibly for the first time since arriving here, at that level—and hopefully loudly enough to register in Percy's head. After glancing at Chane (please do something about Percy, he won't judge), he continues::]
... We need to examine the corpse. Including this, shit hit the fan last night—I'll explain if you calm down.
[Chane's almost successful in breaking his wrist, but Shinnosuke's voice gets to him and he stops. He doesn't drop the dagger and he turns to face him with a look of pure anguish and rage while he tries to register what's going on.]
Obviously. [His voice is shaking, his whole body's shaking but he also knows Shinnosuke's right.] ....we're doing it together. I can't...
[ ... Comfortable now that Percy has lost some of his urgency, she drops his wrist and stands back to let him talk to Shinnosuke. She'll still be here, just... quietly (and creepily) not contributing. ]
[He'll take that as a relatively positive sign and step closer, fishing his cellphone out of his pocket as he does so. He hopes that Percy, at least, remembers the conversation they had.]
Aside from Annabeth, Nui and Riku have also been confirmed dead by the Sheriff. It sounds like Riku was decapitated, but otherwise... it seems like everything else might've been burned or dissolved in chemicals.
The body you found is probably the only one left intact [for a given degree] and the Sheriff has already told us that we won't have rights to the corpse during the trial.
Fuck him. [The words are spat out, angry and irrational but he follows after Shinnosuke as they head closer to the body. Almost carelessly, he kicks the coyote's corpse to the side. Part of him is glad Nui's dead. But Riku...he didn't know him well, but it seems like a shame.]
Found a can of gasoline under the Sheriff's chair on his porch. [He's crouching next to Annabeth, doing his best not to throw up while examining the state of his hollowed-out girlfriend.] Not hard to guess what happened.
[His hands are still moving, though they hover. There's nothing left for him to touch and his breath hitches for a moment before he focuses. Almost calmly, he removes her necklace.]
Do what you need to do, Shinnosuke. If photos are all we have, so be it.
[He nods, watching as Percy removes the necklace, before turning his phone on.
There's... not much to take a photo of (or rather, there's too much, he supposes), but he does what he can, taking a few of the entire corpse and then some close-ups of whatever could seem relevant. Throughout the process, he keeps his expression carefully neutral.
Someone else might take this time to comfort Percy, but really, Shinnosuke wouldn't know where to begin.]
[It's fine, he wouldn't know what to do with it anyway.]
There may not be much we can get from this, but at least we'll have it on hand. What's the state of the other bodies? And what happened last night that you were talking about?
[He can't break down yet. He needs to focus on the bigger picture first. She'd be so pissed at him if he didn't, really.]
[He pauses, going over the information in his head to organize it, before he speaks.]
Did you see the Sheriff digging a hole by the tree yesterday? Either he or someone else filled the thing with chemicals and threw four bodies in there. Jason, Rin, and I weren't able to identify them—we just saw the skulls, a couple of bones, bits of flesh, and some hair. Blonde, grey, and blue.
The blue hair probably belongs to Ao, though, since her grave's been dug up. I wouldn't be surprised if two of the other bodies were people who died earlier this week, but... one of the skulls had a hole in it like it'd been shot through the head, and a rifle was found buried in a grave.
[...]
Seems like Xion found Riku's head and Nui's parasol—she's not in a good mood, so watch out if you approach her about that. Some frills were found in the bonfire too. Probably Nui's stuff.
All in all, there's a reason why the Sheriff told us that the "corpses are, ehh". I don't know whether to say that we've got too much to focus on tomorrow or too little.
[Shit. He doesn't move away from Annabeth's body despite the fact that it's burned and hollowed and disgusting, but he also doesn't look away from Shinnosuke.] So what, Sheriff burning the bodies wasn't good enough for them? Where did they even get the chemicals?
[A pause.] There's also no guarantee the rifle is what was used to shoot someone in the head. You and I both know nothing is as clear-cut as that. [There's a deep breath.] Someone needs to keep an eye on Xion. She's been through enough this week.
Having all of the pieces kind of helps. We're going to spend hours arguing tomorrow and be stuck voting at the last minute, again, but at least we're starting to get used to this.
Ah, though I should've mentioned: Milla and Yuna heard a gunshot last night. So the gun, or at least a gun, was used, even if not for shooting someone.
[But he agrees: decisively concluding that it was a murder weapon may be misleading.]
I'm not going to pretend dealing with people are my strong suit, so I'm not volunteering. [Re: Xion, he means.] You think you can keep it together tomorrow?
[There's a very, very long pause like he's suddenly remembering something really important. There's one missing thing here.]
You don't get it. [He shakes his head.] You really think I would have left her here alone without some reinforcement? [Where the hell did it go. Wait. That wasn't with the body, so where the hell did it go? He shakes his head again and glares for a moment.]
I'll be fine. [It's too sharp, too quick, snapping more or less.] Something's wrong.
[He could make a dry comment right now, like how would I understand the feelings of a lover, but while Percy doesn't intimidate him, for the sake of keeping things productive, Shinnosuke has reason not to provoke him.]
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robowest2017-02-03 06:00 pm
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We can always afford caution. [ He corrects Percy quickly, but his voice is gentler as he continues. ] Taking unnecessary risks is especially unsafe here. But I understand.
[ percy is about to throwdown with a honey badger and hannibal is here for moral support i guess ]
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But yeah, as Mrs. O'Leary pokes her nose under the porch, she's about to get mauled. A coyote claws at her face viciously and if she jumps back, it'll come out after her hissing and spitting and chase her down with the full intention of eating her.
Another coyote pops out after, carrying a very charred up arm in it's mouth before chasing after the two of them.
There's still some growling though, but quieter now. ]
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...and he gags for a moment, immediately jumping to the worst conclusion. Mrs. O'Leary runs for the hotel with the coyotes in hot pursuit and Percy pretty much figures fuck it, he can take on a coyote. Like without a doubt.]
Annabeth! [And there he goes right under the porch. RIP Percy Jackson.
What now, Hannibal?]
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Because unfortunately, he doesn't get much more of a look than that. As Percy dives under the porch, his attention is quickly on Percy instead. He might have pursued to help Mrs. O'Leary, but given the choice between a person and a dog, Hannibal will definitely pick the person. He's not like certain dog-lovers.
Percy goes under the porch, and Hannibal shouts out his name sharply. ]
Percy-!
[ But he's quick to essentially dive to the ground after him. He won't be fast enough to stop Percy, but if it looks like he's about to get mauled by a coyote, he's definitely going to drag him out from under the porch again. Don't fight a coyote under the porch, what the fuck percy ]
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And secondly, oh, Percy.
So, when he dives under the porch, he'll see the last coyote still there, happily chewing away at Annabeth Chase's burnt corpse. It's pretty hard to make out it being Annabeth from how burnt to a crisp her body is but he'll be able to see her necklace and a few patches of her hair. Maybe her clothes aren't burnt entirely but, you know, bit hard to make out.
The coyote snarls at Percy before ripping another chunk of meat out of her torso. Her torso that is... pretty hollowed out now from the feast. It looks like they've been eating for a while, kid. ]
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Hannibal may be outside of the porch (or Chane, at this point), but to an outsider it won't be hard to guess what happens next.
There's a loud, feral war cry and he charges, immediately barreling straight into the coyote and starts hacking at the animal, screaming and screaming and screaming. The dagger moves in a blur of bronze and he fights it off of Annabeth's corpse, fur and probably blood flying as he continues tearing it apart.
That coyote sure is fucking dead, now isn't it.]
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He looks up at her, startled, but then it's a quick look between Percy underneath the porch and Chane again. If Percy kind of has that situation under control, he'll speak to her: ]
Mrs. Walken— What- What is it?
[ ...but if not, he's definitely dragging Percy out from under the porch with all the strength he can get at the odd angle. So. Good luck everyone. ]
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Sei
Church
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Seizaburo-kun—? You found him?
[ He quickly stands up, and he starts in a sprint towards the church, since considering Natalie, he can make a good guess as to why Chane had found him and looked so pale. But as he goes, he yells to her: ]
Please take care of Percy!
[ and there he go ]
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While he darts off like a knight in surgical armor, Chane is going to busy herself trying to pull Percy off the coyote. Hey. ]
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Let go of me! [You might need some help, Chane, this happens when you're dealing with a six-foot-tall swordsman.]
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God, she's going to have the worst reputation after this week... ]
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As Shinnosuke approaches, he'll be stopping a safe distance away from Percy and Chane, as he doesn't want to end up as the next corpse today, thank you. Given Percy's demeanour, he can take a guess as to whose corpse he might've found.]
Percy!
[He yells—possibly for the first time since arriving here, at that level—and hopefully loudly enough to register in Percy's head. After glancing at Chane (please do something about Percy, he won't judge), he continues::]
... We need to examine the corpse. Including this, shit hit the fan last night—I'll explain if you calm down.
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Obviously. [His voice is shaking, his whole body's shaking but he also knows Shinnosuke's right.] ....we're doing it together. I can't...
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notifs why did you fail me
[He'll take that as a relatively positive sign and step closer, fishing his cellphone out of his pocket as he does so. He hopes that Percy, at least, remembers the conversation they had.]
Aside from Annabeth, Nui and Riku have also been confirmed dead by the Sheriff. It sounds like Riku was decapitated, but otherwise... it seems like everything else might've been burned or dissolved in chemicals.
The body you found is probably the only one left intact [for a given degree] and the Sheriff has already told us that we won't have rights to the corpse during the trial.
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Found a can of gasoline under the Sheriff's chair on his porch. [He's crouching next to Annabeth, doing his best not to throw up while examining the state of his hollowed-out girlfriend.] Not hard to guess what happened.
[His hands are still moving, though they hover. There's nothing left for him to touch and his breath hitches for a moment before he focuses. Almost calmly, he removes her necklace.]
Do what you need to do, Shinnosuke. If photos are all we have, so be it.
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There's... not much to take a photo of (or rather, there's too much, he supposes), but he does what he can, taking a few of the entire corpse and then some close-ups of whatever could seem relevant. Throughout the process, he keeps his expression carefully neutral.
Someone else might take this time to comfort Percy, but really, Shinnosuke wouldn't know where to begin.]
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There may not be much we can get from this, but at least we'll have it on hand. What's the state of the other bodies? And what happened last night that you were talking about?
[He can't break down yet. He needs to focus on the bigger picture first. She'd be so pissed at him if he didn't, really.]
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Did you see the Sheriff digging a hole by the tree yesterday? Either he or someone else filled the thing with chemicals and threw four bodies in there. Jason, Rin, and I weren't able to identify them—we just saw the skulls, a couple of bones, bits of flesh, and some hair. Blonde, grey, and blue.
The blue hair probably belongs to Ao, though, since her grave's been dug up. I wouldn't be surprised if two of the other bodies were people who died earlier this week, but... one of the skulls had a hole in it like it'd been shot through the head, and a rifle was found buried in a grave.
[...]
Seems like Xion found Riku's head and Nui's parasol—she's not in a good mood, so watch out if you approach her about that. Some frills were found in the bonfire too. Probably Nui's stuff.
All in all, there's a reason why the Sheriff told us that the "corpses are, ehh". I don't know whether to say that we've got too much to focus on tomorrow or too little.
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[A pause.] There's also no guarantee the rifle is what was used to shoot someone in the head. You and I both know nothing is as clear-cut as that. [There's a deep breath.] Someone needs to keep an eye on Xion. She's been through enough this week.
Having all of the pieces kind of helps. We're going to spend hours arguing tomorrow and be stuck voting at the last minute, again, but at least we're starting to get used to this.
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Ah, though I should've mentioned: Milla and Yuna heard a gunshot last night. So the gun, or at least a gun, was used, even if not for shooting someone.
[But he agrees: decisively concluding that it was a murder weapon may be misleading.]
I'm not going to pretend dealing with people are my strong suit, so I'm not volunteering. [Re: Xion, he means.] You think you can keep it together tomorrow?
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You don't get it. [He shakes his head.] You really think I would have left her here alone without some reinforcement? [Where the hell did it go. Wait. That wasn't with the body, so where the hell did it go? He shakes his head again and glares for a moment.]
I'll be fine. [It's too sharp, too quick, snapping more or less.] Something's wrong.
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What's wrong?
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